Chapter 28: I’ve Been Waiting for You for a Long Time
Wen Yan was very busy for several consecutive days, but it was a fulfilling kind of busy.
He didn’t deliberately hide the part-time job. When the group tried to schedule a meal and times conflicted, they all learned that Wen Yan had gone to be a model.
During a break in shooting, he looked down at the message Wu Qingqing sent, the screen full of exclamation marks.
[Wu Qingqing: Brother Yan!!! Which studio did you say you were in? Is it Number XX!!!]
[Wen Yan: Yes. What’s wrong?]
[Wu Qingqing: Cheng Shangshi is in the studio next to yours!!! Begging for an autograph!!! Brother Yan, the villainous second male lead he played before was super handsome!]
Followed by a few crying emojis.
Wen Yan smiled helplessly. Wu Qingqing wasn’t a fanatic chaser of stars; she just fell in love with a few people whenever she watched a drama.
[Wen Yan: I’ll try.]
The other side sent several thank-you and crying emojis, then sent a few photos of Cheng Shangshi, afraid Wen Yan might recognize the wrong person.
“Yan Yan, touch up.” The makeup artist came over with a powder puff, examining Wen Yan’s flawless face left and right, clicking her tongue in admiration.
The makeup artist was quite famous and had worked with many celebrities. Hearing she was doing makeup for an amateur model this time, she wasn’t very happy initially. But there was no helping it; the brand paid too much.
That bit of reluctance vanished entirely upon seeing Wen Yan’s face and superior proportions. She finally understood how Wen Yan could receive audition invitations and collaborations from such brands right after entering the industry.
The assistant walked over, voice low: “Teacher Cheng’s team just borrowed two softboxes from us. We’ll have to wait a while before we can continue shooting.”
While sweeping a brush over the corner of Wen Yan’s eye, the makeup artist commented, “I say the world is truly a huge improvised troupe. Such a big team, and they only realized there was a problem with the photography site when they were about to shoot, bringing a carload of people rushing over.”
“Fans are cursing too.” The assistant scrolled through her phone to find a few Weibo posts of fans defending their rights. “It’s trending on the hot search now.”
Wu Qingqing must have found out because of the hot search too.
The chatting stopped.
Wen Yan waited for the makeup artist to pack up her brushes before speaking. “Sister Ming, may I ask, if I want to ask Teacher Cheng for an autograph, should I go when he’s resting, or is it more appropriate to ask his assistant to pass it on?”
She was a bit surprised but explained, “When they finish later and we go to get the softboxes, you go over too. Since they delayed our shooting for so long, they generally won’t refuse.”
When Wen Yan went over with them, the shooting on that side had just ended.
Cheng Shangshi, surrounded by the crowd, was very thin. He looked even more handsome in person than in photos and looked over in their direction.
The staff over there also hurriedly stood up, smiling apologetically. “We were just about to return them.”
The assistant coughed lightly to remind him.
Wen Yan smiled gently and handed over the autograph board with both hands. “Could I ask Teacher Cheng for an autograph? My friend is a loyal fan of Teacher Cheng…”
The staff member turned to look behind him and found Cheng Shangshi had already walked up behind him.
A hand took the autograph board and pen from Wen Yan. Cheng Shangshi steadied the board. “Sure. What is the name?”
“‘Qingqing’, the ‘Qingqing’ from ‘Qingqing Zijin’.”
After speaking, Wen Yan realized what he had said and regretted subconsciously reading out Wu Qingqing’s username.
Fortunately, the other party just raised his eyes to glance at him, then quickly and fluently wrote a dedicated autograph on the board, adding a simple smiley face after the name at the end.
“Thank you, Teacher Cheng. Sorry for the trouble.” Wen Yan took it, thanked him politely, and smiled faintly. “Goodbye.”
The shoot went smoothly. Wen Yan’s side was just missing some finishing touches anyway; now that everything was ready, it ended quickly.
The staff packed up and left. Wen Yan went back to the dressing room to remove his makeup.
The dressing room door was pushed open.
Wen Yan looked back; it was Cheng Shangshi. The other party clearly hadn’t expected someone to be in the dressing room and was surprised, but closed the door casually anyway.
Only two people who had met once were in the enclosed space. Neither spoke, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward.
Wen Yan was halfway through removing his makeup, holding a makeup wipe in his hand. “Hello, Teacher Cheng. You haven’t left yet?”
“Address leaked, waiting for the next car to arrive.” The other party answered simply.
Wen Yan didn’t quite understand but nodded slightly and continued removing makeup.
Cheng Shangshi found a chair and sat down. “Which character of mine does your friend like best?”
“She said it was a villainous second male lead…” Wen Yan didn’t know the character’s name. “Sorry, I don’t usually watch TV dramas, so I don’t know much about these things.”
“It’s okay, very normal.” Cheng Shangshi understood; the ‘Qingqing’ Wen Yan mentioned just now was indeed not Wen Yan himself.
Wen Yan looked at Cheng Shangshi in the mirror. There was an obvious weariness about him; he seemed very tired, tired enough to be too lazy to speak.
So he didn’t disturb him, quietly refraining from continuing the conversation, and went on removing his makeup.
A moment later, the door was knocked twice from outside, then pushed open.
“Wen Yan.”
A cold voice crashed in from the doorway. Wen Yan was wiping water droplets from his neck with a tissue and turned his head at the sound.
Pei Zhouye stood at the door, the corridor light shining from behind him, silhouetting his tall and slender figure.
Those peach blossom eyes slanted upwards slightly, carrying a lazy smile. His gaze slid from Wen Yan’s wet hair slowly down to his slightly open collar, finally settling on that slightly startled face.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
He pulled out the chair next to Wen Yan and sat down, legs placed casually, his posture relaxed. When his gaze swept over Cheng Shangshi in the corner, the smile in his eyes turned cold.
Cheng Shangshi sensed the gaze, looked up, and froze.
The hostility in the other’s eyes was undisguised, cold, fierce, and imposing, carrying condescending arrogance and scrutiny.
The manager hurriedly pushed the door open and entered, walked quickly to Cheng Shangshi, whispered something, and immediately pulled him up.
He bowed slightly to Pei Zhouye, his tone respectful and restrained:
“Young Master Pei, we won’t disturb you. Please carry on.”
With that, he quickly led Cheng Shangshi away.
Only Wen Yan and Pei Zhouye were left in the dressing room.
Wen Yan frowned at Pei Zhouye. “Why are you here?”
“Waiting for you.” He answered casually.
“I don’t want you to wait for me. How did you know I was here? Are you stalking me?” Wen Yan stared tightly into Pei Zhouye’s eyes, wanting to find a speck of guilt in them.
Unfortunately, he failed. Pei Zhouye’s black eyes were plain, his expression self-righteous, offering no answer.
For Pei Zhouye, knowing where he was shooting was the simplest thing.
Wen Yan was a bit annoyed. He stood up, threw the makeup wipe viciously into the trash can to vent his anger, picked up the autograph board on the vanity, and prepared to leave.
“If you want anyone’s autograph, just ask me directly. Don’t be alone with people casually.” Pei Zhouye’s tone was lazy. “You wait just because they borrowed a few lights? Just letting people bully you?”
Wen Yan paused. Thinking of his temper, he explained, “It was necessary for the shoot; I didn’t wait long. We only exchanged two sentences just now.”
Pei Zhouye chuckled low, his voice coming from behind him, carrying a hint of danger:
“I know. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have walked out of this door just now.”
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